Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

Scott W · Last edited by Scott W on Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:08 am; edited 1 time in total

Well what can I say, just another exhausting weekend...can't really work out why as this time I managed to avoid the 8 hour drive and instead took a 30 minute drive to the airport and flew the rest! Laughing

Perhaps the fact that we almost missed the flight and had to run from the car park (Sorry....had to dump the car in a disabled space Embarassed

as there was no where left other than the 100 empty disabled spaces) had something to do with why we were so tired (or perhaps the FREE beers at the hotel - see below Saturday Night Wink

).

We got to the check in and was told to run to the gate, we were able to walk straight to the front of all the ques (fantastic, highly recommend it Wink

), met up with Ian (hogboy) Tanya (CornFlake) Adam (Ball Morph) & Karl (Snakesalive), they were also late and apparently Ian had been having kittens (not litterally I hope Shocked

) the whole journey down! Laughing

We walked through to the departure lounge only to find our flight delayed just long enough for a round of drinks (although we did have to down them....Karl...you left yours behind!!!).

Finally arrived at the hotel around 9-30 Friday evening, went straight to the bar and didn't move until 3.30 - 4am Saturday morning. Apart from the major headache/hangover of getting up for the show 2-3 hours later, Friday night was excellent, was great to finally meet Mark from MarkusJayne Ball Pythons and catch upwith a few old timer Brits I'd not seen for a while.

Saturday morning was Show Day, so after a max of 3 hours sleep we were up and ready, managed to miss breakfast though! We made the 5 minute drive to the show, which as usual was chaotic and poorly organised, even table holders had to que to get tickets while waiting with their animals outside (thank god it wasn't raining!). I think we finally got in by 8.30.

I had a great look round and had seen basically everything by about 9.30 & was then able to relax and spend the rest of the show sitting down chatting. That's the best thing of being in so early Laughing

The show itself was great, Fantasic range of leopard geckos and ball pythons at Ray Hines table, Darren at CPR has some amazing ball mutations, some definate show firsts!!! Bob Clarke & Mike Willbanks had good selection of retic morphs and balls. Casper/Spookje had some great leopards (although AGAIN he was buying even more to add to his own collection... Shocked

), he also seemed to manage to blag a table in two halls!! Confused

, Rare Tricolours (Peter Rice had one of the best displays (real professional - made by John @ Proracks) Overall a massive selection of quality captive bred reptiles throughout the hall, although disappointingly they still allow a few traders to sell wild caught 'pet trade' animals..

I finally collected some more of my ball pythons I bought from Mark Bell in Daytona, excellent animals and a great guy to do business with (thanks also for the extra favour, much appreciated).

During the show itself I met up with our own Rickeezee, Rick it certainly looked like you had a good time and some great buys! Also Dan & Debbie who I met for the first time (Dan managed to drive to Paris instead of Hamm and needed a woman to help him with directions Laughing

). Only saw Adam & tanya a couple of times during the show and each time they were running around like possessed demons trying to find the next reptile to buy! Laughing

Also meet Jas (& his lady, sorry I'm terrible with names Embarassed

).

As per normal I came back with NOTHING purchased from the show Laughing

...couldn't even buy the book I wanted (not suprising really...sitting on the plane on the way home and saw TWO people with copies Shocked

).

So after helping to pack up, we got back to the hotel at close to 6pm, a quick shower and back down to the bar. By this time the Brit Pack had taken over the place, Jon C, Peter F & the rest of the ER guys, Adam B, Nick L, Ian, Adam, Karl, Dave, Lin, Ray & Kath, James, S.D our very own MFG (mystery forum guest), Gary, Steve F...sorry if I missed anyone Embarassed

(sure I have as there seemed loads of us!).

After a few drinks I went out for perhaps the best food I have ever eaten in Germany, a big thankyou to Mark & his lovely wife Jayne for a excellent meal and very interesting company with our other dinner guest (a very nice gentleman & great character who has supplied almost all of the African ball morphs now in captivity).

We then returned to the hotal bar and met up with the 'Brit Pack' again, by this time they had over taken us in the drink stakes!

We came back to find Karl (snakesalive) buying gay drinks for James Shocked

(see photo below!), we carried on drinking for a few hours before the barman decided to close up and go to bed.....this was perhaps not a wise choice, as we then needed to find our own barmen! Of course being non-german they weren't so good at remembering what to charge us so decided the only thing to do was supply FREE drinks for the next few hours Laughing

(see below - Identities covered for legal reasons Wink

).

We finally went to bed at the very early hours, this may of been due to the very unfriendly member of hotel staff that was shouting things in German at us Shocked

, not sure if he was asking us for a drink or something more sinister. We didn't take any chances so we quickly left the scene Wink

All in all an absolutely great weekend, the show was great, the people were great & the weather for a change was wonderful!

Roll on the next one!!!!!

photos to follow Wink

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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

Scott W · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:05 am Post subject:

some photos
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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

Scott W · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:18 am Post subject:

Saturday Night Laughing

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Please DO NOT pm orders for reptiles, send email instead scott@captivebred.co.uk

glidergirl · Contributing Member Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 94

Rich text me at 11.15 GMT he'd spent up and spent waaaaaaay tooooo much lol!! Came back with some nice venomous, not much else though and nothing for me!!

I'm sorry to hear about Darren's ball mutations, is there anything that can be done for him, surgery or something? And do you think you should be so personal about him on an open forum Laughing

Scott W · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 11:58 am Post subject:

FatBoy · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:00 pm Post subject:

Looks and sounds like you had a superb weekend. I've got to dust of the passport one year!
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glidergirl · Contributing Member Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 94

I miss the European shows - hopefully though (now I've found my passport) I might be able to go to Dutch snake day Smile

Stuart · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 12:42 pm Post subject:

Welcome back and nice write up..sounds like you had fun to say the least..must have been worth going just to see Karl drunk!!..lol
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cornfan · Key Member Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 262

Was great to see you again, Scott and I owe you a bacardi next time!

Saw loads of people there but my brain's too cafuddled this morning to think straight and remember who they were... I managed to find the book I was after but no livestock came home with me as there was only one snake I wanted and it seems to be the only snake not being held at hamm... ho hum, one day it will be mine! Adam, on the other hand, spent a fortune - as did karl and Ian... bit gutted that the shops were shut on Sunday or I would have come home with a nice new pair of trousers too but I think the boys were a tad relieved by that revelation. I did take a couple of photo's but I haven't yet been home so haven't been able to get them off of my camera yet. Ian took loads though and I can't wait to see those.

The place was so hot that everyone smelt! My first time to Hamm and I wasn't disappointed in the least although, next time I'll be wearing shorts!

To everyone I saw - hello!! *waves* and to those I didn't... hello! *waves*
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Regards, Tanya

Reptile Lover

glidergirl · Contributing Member Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 94

What snake are you after Tanya? We import lots from the states and could ask our contact over there.